THE 
EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 


BOULOGNE  — THE  SOMME 
1916-1917 


LIBRARY 


GIVEN   BY 


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This  book  is  due  two   weeks  from  the  last  date 
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i 

1 

ftoo  10  1S3' 

1 

ftPH  ■*- " 

/Dec '4-' 

• 

EDITH   CAVELL 

Shot  by  the  Germans,  October  12,  1915. 


THE 

EDITH    CAVELL    NURSE 

FROM 

MASSACHUSETTS 


A  RECORD 
OF  ONE  YEAR'S  PERSONAL  SERVICE 

WITH  THE 

BRITISH   EXPEDITIONARY  FORCE  IN  FRANCE 
BOULOGNE  — THE  SOMME 

1916-1917 


# 


WITH  AN  ACCOUNT 

OF  THE   IMPRISONMENT,  TRIAL.   AND   DEATH 

OF  EDITH  CAVELL 


W.  A.  BUTTERFIELD 

69  BROMFIELD  ST. 
BOSTON 


SEP  2e  I'^ip 

Copyright 

w.  a.  butterfield 

April  12,  1917 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

FROM 

MASSACHUSETTS 


EDITH  CAVELL'S  story  is  of  a  sin- 
gular beauty.  With  solicitude  for 
her  enemy's  women,  the  German 
pupil-nurses  in  her  training  school  at  Brus- 
sels, she  protected  them  from  possible  un- 
kindness  at  the  hands  of  the  outraged 
Belgians,  by  herself  taking  them,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  to  the  borders  of 
their  own  land.  And  back  at  Brussels 
she  nursed  her  enemy's  wounded. 

"At  her  trial,  she  made  no  specious 
defence.  With  unclouded  soul,  she  con- 
sented to  her  own  death  by  giving  the 
court  the  truth  —  that  she  had  indeed 
helped  her  countrymen  and  the  men  of 
Belgium,  her  adopted  home.  For  these 
friends  she  laid  down  her  life.  Is  there 
greater  love  than  this  ? 
liii] 


THE  EDITH   CAVELL   NURSE 

"After  three  weeks  of  solitary  confine- 
ment, she  said  that  she  had  found  in  prison 
kindness  and  peace  of  soul .  For  the  enemy 
who  first  attempted  to  deceive  our  Ameri- 
can representative,  and  then  set  aside  his 
touching  prayer,  and  that  of  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  for  even  a  brief  delay  —  for 
this  enemy  she  had  no  condemnation. 
*We  must  have,'  she  said,  'no  hatred  or 
bitterness.' 

''As  far  as  may  be  in  her  spirit,  and  be- 
lieving that  her  execution  struck  at  the 
heart  of  Christianity  and  of  chivalry  —  we, 
American  citizens,  have  asked  the  English 
director  of  military  surgery  to  accept,  for 
the  rest  of  the  war,  the  services  of  the  Edith 
Cavell  Memorial  Nurse  from  Massachu- 
setts. The  offer,  though  unconditional,  is 
made  in  the  hope  that  it  may  be  this  nurse's 
high  fortune  to  serve  not  only  the  Allies' 
heroic  wounded  but  their  prisoners." 

The  foregoing  statement,  published  one 
year  ago,  had  its  origin  in  a  memorial  ser- 
vice, in  honor  of  Edith  Cavell,  held  in 
Steinert  Hall,  Boston,  December  11,  1915. 

[iv] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

Professor  George  Herbert  Palmer  presided, 
and  Mrs.  Jessie  D.  Hodder,  Fred  B.  Lund, 
M.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  McChord 
Crothers  spoke.  It  was  then  decided  that 
an  ''Edith  Cavell  Nurse  from  Massachu- 
setts" should  be  offered  to  the  English 
Government  to  serve,  with  the  British 
Expeditionary  force  in  France,  for  the 
duration  of  the  war. 

The  raising  of  the  necessary  funds  and  the 
far  more  difficult  task  of  choosing  a  nurse 
whose  spirit  and  capacity  would  fit  her  for 
her  task,  was  entrusted  to  this  committee. 
Money  sufficient  for  salary  and  expenses 
for  one  year  was  promptly  subscribed, 
and  a  nurse  of  exceptional  attainments 
and  personal  distinction  was  discovered. 
Miss  Alice  L.  F.  Fitzgerald,  the  nurse 
in  question,  is  fortunate  in  her  previous 
experience.    After    graduating    from    the 

[V] 


THE   EDITH   CAVELL   NURSE 

Johns  Hopkins  School,  she  superintended 
two  training  schools  for  nurses,  became 
head  of  the  operating  room  at  the  Bellevue 
Hospital,  New  York,  and  later  worked 
with  the  Italian  Red  Cross  for  the  Messina 
earthquake  sufferers.  For  her  devotion 
in  that  service  she  was  decorated  by  the 
Italian  Government. 

Miss  Fitzgerald's  services  in  memory 
of  Edith  Cavell  were  accepted  by  the 
British  Government.  She  has  just  com- 
pleted her  first  year  of  work  for  the 
wounded,  British,  Colonial,  and  German, 
on  the  English  front  in  France. 

William  Roscoe  Thayer 
Philip  Cabot 

Rosalind  Huidekoper  Greene 
Henry  Copley  Greene 
William  Ernest  Hocking 

Edith  Cavell  Committee 


[vi] 


THE  TREASURER'S  REPORT 
Edith  Cavell  Fund 


January  17,  1916,  to  March  1,  1917 

Dr. 

Cr. 

.  1916 1 

Amount  of  Contributions     .     . 

$2400.00 

Misa  Alice  L.  F.  Fitzgerald  — 

Salary,  12  months 

$600.00 

Expenses:     steamship   fare. 

uniforms,  kit,  board   and 

lodging  for  12  months 

963.88 

Mays 

12  doz.  Rubber  Gloves  $54.00 
12  doz.  Thermometers      72.00 

Express  Charges                10.65 

136.65 
53.48 

Oct.  25 

Gramophone  and  records 

Cash  on  hand  March  1,  1917 

645.99 

$2400.00 

$2400.00 

The  Committee  wishes  to  express  its  appreciation 
of  the  interest  shown  by  the  Dana  Hall  School  of 
Wellesley,  which  released  Miss  Fitzgerald  from  work 
in  the  school,  and  paid  for  her  passage  to  Europe. 
The  Committee  wishes  also  to  acknowledge  the 
generosity  of  Mr.  A.  H.  Atkins,  the  Boston  sculptor, 
who  contributed  his  skiU  and  talent  in  modelling  the 
Edith  Cavell  medal  which  Miss  Fitzgerald  wears; 
and  the  kindness  of  the  Gorham  Manufacturing  Co., 
which  executed  this  medal  in  silver,  free  of  charge. 

Funds  are  needed  to  carry  this  work  through  its 
second  year.  When  you  have  read  the  first  year's 
record  of  work  by  the  Edith  Cavell  Nurse  from 
Massachusetts,  we  are  confident  that,  if  you  are 
already  a  subscriber,  you  will  renew  your  subscrip- 
tion, and  that  if  not,  you  will  wish  to  send  in  your 
first  donation.  All  gifts,  whether  large  or  small, 
will  be  welcomed :    they  should  be  sent  to 

Philip  Cabot,  Treasurer, 
111  Devonshire  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
[viil 


PREFACE 

rpHE  spirit  in  which  Miss  Fitzgerald 
-L  is  carrying  out  her  mission,  and 
something  of  what  that  spirit  means  to 
her  wounded  in  France,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  following  record.  These  brief  ex- 
tracts, from  her  letters  to  members  of  the 
Committee  and  to  other  friends  in  America 
and  in  France,  tell  us  little  of  what  she 
feels.  Their  unconsciousness  makes  them 
the  more  telling.  It  gives  them,  as  we 
believe  the  reader  will  inevitably  feel,  a 
place  heroic  as  it  is  humble,  among  the 
first-hand  documents  of  the  war. 


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THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NUESE 
FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 


London, 
Feb.  29-March  8,  1916. 

I  LANDED  quite  safely  in  Liverpool 
yesterday  after  a  beautiful  trip.  I 
can  hardly  wait  to  get  to  work :  the  at- 
mosphere is  so  tense,  and  no  one  is  idling. 

Yesterday  I  had  a  charming  personal 
note  from  the  Surgeon  General,  asking 
me  to  go  and  see  him.  Of  course  I  went 
to  the  War  Office  at  once.  I  had  a  de- 
lightful interview  with  Sir  Alfred  Keogh, 
who  said  he  would  send  me  to  France 
[11 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

as  near  the  Front  as  a  nurse  can  go !  I 
then  saw  Miss  Beecher,  the  Matron  in 
Chief  of  the  Nursing  Service,  who  en- 
rolled me  with  the  rank  of  ^^ Sister"  and 
gave  me  directions  for  getting  my  equip- 
ment. I  am  now  waiting  for  orders  to 
leave,  and  hope  to  be  off  within  a  week. 
It  seems  too  good  to  be  true.  Several 
people  I  have  met,  and  Sir  Alfred  Keogh 
particularly,  seemed  to  be  very  grateful 
to  you  all  for  sending  over  a  nurse. 

I  hope  that  the  Censor  passed  my  cable 
telling  you  of  my  good  fortune  at  receiv- 
ing orders  to  leave  for  France  at  once. 
If  my  uniforms  had  been  finished,  I  would 
have  left  to-day.  One  of  the  matrons 
on  duty  in  France  has  been  held  back  in 
order  to  escort  me  over,  which  is  re- 
markably kind  and  thoughtful.     My  kit 

[2] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

is  ready,  standing  in  the  comer  of  the 
room,  all  packed  in  one  large  canvas  bag : 
it  contains  the  bed  and  mattress,  pillow, 
sleeping  bag,  wash-stand,  bath,  chair, 
table,  lantern,  and  many  other  necessities. 
Packing  it  is  an  art,  I  assure  you.  I 
hope  that  I  can  take  it  all  back  to  America 
after  the  war,  as  it  will  make  quite  an 
interesting  exhibit  for  your  committee 
and  contributors. 

I  shall  not  know  where  I  am  going  un- 
til I  reach  France  and  find  orders  there. 


IS] 


THE   EDITH   CAVELL  NURSE 


II 

Boulogne, 
March  9-May  9,  1916. 

I  MUST  say  again  and  again  that  I 
have  found  such  endless  kindness,  con- 
sideration, and  courtesy  that  it  makes 
me  feel  very  small  and  unworthy. 

I  crossed  over  to  France  last  week,  and 
after  one  day^s  rest  was  attached  to  a  large 
military  hospital  at  the  Boulogne  base. 
I  have  been  so  dead  tired  that  I  could 
hardly  crawl  when  night  came,  with  the 
rush  and  strangeness  of  it  all.  I  shall 
probably  stay  here  until  I  am  a  little 
familiar  with  the  very  intricate  military 
routine  and  discipline  and  the  very  com- 
plicated record-keeping,  etc.  The  nurs- 
ing, with  a  few  exceptions,  is  not  so  very 

[41 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

different.  I  feel  that  I  shall  soon  be  help- 
ful enough  to  do  ^'my  bit.'' 

The  English  Tommies  are  the  most 
wonderful  men,  —  never  a  grumble,  never 
a  loud  word,  and  they  stand  pain  like 
super-human  beings.  It  is  best  not  to 
stop  and  think  too  much;  one  could 
never  do  the  work. 

I  have  been  asked  so  often  if  more 
Edith  Cavell  nurses  were  coming.  I  wish 
some  other  States  could  follow  your  lead 
and  send  nurses;  perhaps  some  could  go 
to  France,  others  to  the  English  Red 
Cross,  and  to  St.  John's  Ambulance,  and 
so  distribute  them  around. 

I  received  yesterday,  by  registered  pack- 
age, the  medal.  I  cannot  tell  you,  how 
proud  I  am  to  have  it,  nor  how  beauti- 
ful I  think  it  is.    Can  you  tell  Mr.  Atkins 


THE   EDITH   CAVELL  NURSE 

for  me  that  it  has  been  so  much  admired 
by  many  whose  opinion  is  worth  while? 
As  a  design  of  a  nurse  it  is  by  far  the  most 
beautiful  I  have  seen. 

We  are  busy:  convoys  nearly  every 
night.  Acting  as  an  assistant  to  the  head 
of  a  ward,  I  have  an  opportunity  to  see 
the  administration  side  and  to  help  with 
the  actual  work. 

Please  tell  Francesca  that  I  have  de- 
cided to  spend  her  60  cents  in  buying'a  plant 
for  the  ward,  as  the  poor  fellows  love  the 
green,  and  the  plant  will  last  a  long  time. 

It  is  still  bitterly  cold,  and  it  was  snowing 
two  days  ago.  I  am  rather  glad  that  I  am 
now  quartered  in  a  comfortable  hotel  in- 
stead of  a  tent ! 

I  wish  I  could  convey  to  you  the  ap- 
preciation of  those  in  authority  for  the 
[61 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

gift  of  a  nurse  which  you  have  made  to 
them.  Only  yesterday  Sir  Arthur  Slog- 
gett,  the  Director  General  of  all  the 
British  hospitals  in  France,  called  on  me 
and  told  me  how  welcome  I  was  and  how 
glad  they  are  to  have  me.  They  gave  me 
two  stripes,  the  highest  any  reserve  Sister 
ever  gets,  and  a  ward  of  22  beds  within 
the  first  few  weeks.  I  feel  they  have 
been  very  kind  and  confident ! 

The  weather  is  getting  warm  at  last 
and  it  is  very  nice  to  see  the  sun  shine 
again.  We  are  being  visited  by  an  en- 
emy aeroplane  every  now  and  then.  Of 
course  we  do  exactly  what  we  should 
not  do ;  we  rush  out  and  watch  the  anti 
air-craft  guns  shelling  it,  and  so  run  the 
double  risk  of  being  hit  by  a  bomb  or  by 
the  returning  shells.  It  is  too  tempting, 
[71 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

and  so  exciting,  to  see  the  shells  get  so 
near  it,  and  yet  miss  it. 

One  thing  has  struck  me  forcibly  lately, 
—  the  one  thing  our  country  has  over- 
looked in  its  many  helpful  activities,  — 
and  that  is  recreation  for  the  wounded. 
You  should  see  the  pleasure  that  an 
occasional  band  concert  or  a  theatrical 
performance  gives  to  these  poor  fellows. 
While  listening  to  one  of  the  crack  Eng- 
lish bands  the  other  day,  which  goes  from 
hospital  base  to  hospital  base,  I  was 
thinking  how  fine  it  would  be  if  Sousa  or 
someone  equally  good  could  be  induced 
to  come  over  and  help  to  give  the  poor 
fellows  a  treat.  We  nurse  them,  and  feed 
them ;  and  it  would  be  nice  to  give  them 
a  little  pleasure  besides.  I  am  sure  that 
you  will  see  how  much  a  little  recreation 
means  to  a  man  straight  from  the  trenches. 

[8] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

Miss  Lena  Ashwell,  the  English  actress, 
sends  out  members  of  her  company  and 
other  artists  once  each  month;  they  go 
from  hospital  to  hospital,  and  give  the 
very  best  of  programs. 

What  a  surprise  to  all  when  the  Rus- 
sians landed  in  Marseilles ! 


[9] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 


III 

Somewhere  in  France, 
May  9-Sept.  15,  1916. 

I  HAD  my  orders  on  Monday;  and 
on  Tuesday  came  to  "Somewhere  in 
France/^  only  a  few  kilometres  from  the 
firing  line,  and  in  the  midst  of  intense 
activity.  Such  endless  processions  of 
transports,  men,  supplies,  ammunition, 
despatch  bearers.  .  .  .  The  noise  of 
shelling  is  quite  plain ;  and  sometimes  the 
bursting  shells  can  be  seen  at  night.  The 
papers  say  that  the  Germans  are  going 
to  make  their  next  effort  against  our  lines 
up  here ;  but  we  are  ready  for  them. 

On  my  arrival,  at  about  8  p.m.,  I  was 
shown  to  my  tent,  and  I  had  my  first 

110] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

chance  to  unpack  and  use  my  precious 
kit  bag.  I  was  surprised  at  the  ease  with 
which  I  put  up  a  bed,  a  wash-stand,  a  table, 
and  chair  in  a  short  time.  These  pieces 
are  so  wonderfully  well  made,  and  the 
parts  fit  in  so  beautifully,  that  any  one 
can  put  them  up.  Wonderful  how  com- 
fortable it  all  was ! 

Now  I  am  in  a  hut,  but  still  use  all  my 
own  kit  things.  I  am  in  a  new  hospital 
which  only  opened  ten  days  ago,  and  we 
expect  to  be  very  busy  some  day.  Aero- 
planes, captive  balloons,  despatch  bearers, 
motor  transports,  etc.  are  continually 
reminding  us  that  blood  is  being  shed 
not  so  very  far  away. 

There  are  many  Australian  nurses  with 

us   here,   but   the   Canadian   nurses   are 

mostly  kept  with  their  own  units.     I  saw 

the  Harvard  unit  hospital  one  day.     They 

[11] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

are  very  highly  thought  of,  and  are  do- 
ing good  work.  I  am  certainly  putting 
'^  Massachusetts  on  the  map/'  for  so  many 
people  want  to  know  where  I  come  from 
and  why  I  am  here. 

My  patients  have  been  enjoying  a 
gramophone  sent  by  the  Red  Cross  for 
the  use  of  the  wards ;  they  are  like  chil- 
dren over  it!  You  can  imagine  these 
poor  men,  fresh  from  trench  life  and  the 
sight  of  all  horrors,  but  now  lying  in  nice 
white  beds  and  listening  to  familiar  tunes. 
Giving  them  such  pleasures  is  part  of 
the  game,  and  not  the  least  by  any  means, 
I  assure  you. 

The  Colonials,  Australians,  New  Zea- 
landers,  Canadians,  Indians,  are  splendid 
men,  and  eager  for  a  hot  fight.  They 
will  get  their  wish  I  fancy.    I  am  writing 

[12] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

this  in  the  ward  facing  a  row  of  fine, 
brave  fellows  who  have  been  fighting  for 
their  country  and  the  just  cause.  They 
lie  here  without  a  grumble  or  complaint, 
just  waiting  to  be  sent  back  to  it  if  they 
are  well  enough  to  go;  and  "going  back^' 
is  much  harder  in  my  opinion  than  going 
for  the  first  time. 

The  gloves  and  thermometers  will  come 
in  most  usefully,  also  the  cases  which 
have  been  sent  to  me  from  the  Peter 
Bent  Brigham  Committee. 

Yes  indeed,  I  can  use  writing  paper, 
plain  chocolate,  and  any  games.  I  believe 
that  I  should  have  greatly  increased  in 
value,  had  I  been  given  a  gramophone  to 
bring  with  me.  One  Sister  has  such  a 
nice  one,  fitting  into  a  travelling  case.  If 
you  know  any  one  keen  to  give  one  away, 
ri3] 


THE   EDITH   CAVELL  NURSE 

do  think  of  me.  It  does  one's  heart  good 
to  see  the  poor  fellows  cheer  up  over  a  good 
record.  One  of  their  favorites  is  '^Take 
me  back  to  U.  S.  A."  Very  catchy,  and 
I  like  it  too  ! 

We  have  two  German  prisoners  wounded, 
but  not  in  my  ward. 

You  will  be  interested  to  know  that  I 
was  the  only  person  in  the  hospital  who 
could  talk  to  our  wounded  prisoners.  They 
were  here  for  two  days ;  I  felt  very  deeply 
the  strength  of  my  mission,  when  I  was 
working  and  interpreting  for  them. 

Yesterday  we  had  some  distinguished 
visitors,  among  them  Dr.  A.  Carrel  of  the 
Rockefeller  in  New  York.  He  has  worked 
with  so  many  Hopkins  people  that  we 
had  much  to  chatter  about.  Sir  Arthur 
Sloggett,   the   Director    General    of    the 

[14] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

Medical  Service  in  France,  or  D.  G.  for 
short,  I  have  met  twice.  He  is  very 
charming.  In  fact  the  "Edith  Cavell 
Nurse  from  Massachusetts'^  has  many- 
distinguished  and  interested  visitors ;  and 
many  nice  things  are  said  about  Massa- 
chusetts. 

We  have  very  busy  days  followed  by 
very  quiet  ones  waiting  for  the  next  convoy 
after  a  night  of  fighting.  We  are  really 
a  clearing  house  to  relieve  congestion 
nearer  the  front,  and  do  not  keep  the 
patients  very  long.  Apart  from  the 
hospital  work,  life  is  very  interesting. 
You  walk  down  to  the  village,  and  meet 
column  after  column  of  large  motor  lorries 
carrying  ammunition  or  supplies,  large 
cannon  being  pulled  by  the  most  powerful 
motor  engines,  detachments  of  cavalry, 
bicycle  corps.  .  .  .     War  is  such  a  busi- 

1151 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

ness  now!    So   much  system,   so   much 
planning ! 

We  have  spread  out  into  a  large  number 
of  tents,  ready  to  cover  1000  wounded. 
The  enemy  has  been  flying  over  us  very 
frequently  with  more  or  less  success.  But 
we  are  very  carefully  guarded  by  aero- 
planes scouting  whenever  weather  permits. 

A  most  beautiful  air  fight  took  place 
over  us  this  a.m.  :  eleven  machines  all 
manoeuvring  and  shooting.  Ours  routed 
the  enemy  before  he  had  done  anything, 
to  us  at  least.  One  stood  there  watching, 
quite  forgetful  that  something  might  fall 
on  one  at  any  time,  even  if  only  an  empty 
shell ! 

I  have  a  gas  mask  at  hand  for  emergency 
use  and  wear  my  identification  disk  around 
my  neck,  so  am  taking  all  precautions. 

[161 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

Ten  boxes  have  come  from  Boston  and 
are  most  welcome,  sent  by  the  Peter 
Bent  Brigham  Committee.  I  shall  be 
more  than  delighted  to  get  the  gramo- 
phone/ chocolates,  etc.  I  know  they  will 
give  much  pleasure  to  these  brave  fellows. 

I  believe  that  we  are  starting  at  last, 
and  that  "something  will  be  doing''  from 
now  on.  The  air  is  filled  with  tenseness  and 
expectation,  and  incidentally  with  aero- 
plane scouts.  We  were  bombed  the  other 
day:  that  is,  the  village  a  few  hundred 
yards  away.  Many  casualties  and  deaths. 
It  may  be  our  turn  next.  The  Taubes 
came  back  the  next  day,  but  our  scouts 
were  after  them. 

It  seems  such  a  long  time  ago  that  I 
lived  in  a  peaceful,  noiseless  atmosphere, 

*  Sent  by  the  Edith  Cavell  Committee. 
[171 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

that  I  wonder  if  such  a  thing  still  exists. 
As  I  write,  the  shelling  along  the  front 
is  something  fearful  in  its  angry,  deter- 
mined sounds !  The  sky  is  alive  with 
aeroplanes  of  all  kinds,  the  scouts,  the 
battle  planes.  .  .  .  Some  fly  so  low  that 
they  almost  touch  the  poles  of  our  tents. 

My  cousin  in  Baltimore  sent  some  cig- 
arettes and  some  chocolate  for  the  soldiers, 
which  came  through  without  trouble  or 
delay,  and  were  so  much  enjoyed.  If  you 
hear  of  any  one  wanting  to  do  likewise, 
please  encourage  them.  The  fact  that 
these  things  had  come  from  so  far  seemed 
to  add  to  their  value.  They  were  sent  c/o 
the  War  Office,  London. 

I  have  a  very  tender  spot  in  my  heart 
for  the  '^Colonials,"  Australians,  Cana- 
dians, New  Zealanders,  etc.     I  know  them 

[181 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

the  moment  they  open  their  mouths; 
and  they  know  I  am  a  sort  of  "Colonial'^ 
myself,  the  moment  I  speak ;  and  we  soon 
understand  each  other  beautifully.  Their 
views  are  very  different  from  the  views  of 
the  pure  Englishman.  It  is  interesting  to 
study  the  changes.  They  are  so  abso- 
lutely reckless  and  frank  !  There  is  rarely 
a  "hot  place"  on  the  front  where  they 
will  not  be  found.  This  very  moment 
some  of  them  are  doing  a  big  piece  of  work. 

The  thermometer  and  gloves  arrived 
quite  safely  and  in  good  condition,  two 
days  ago.^  I  wish  that  I  might  thank 
those  who  made  it  possible  to  send  me 
these  things.  Rubber  gloves  are  so  neces- 
sary; for  the  wounds  are  all  so  badly 
infected  that  one's  hands  become  a  source 

1  Sent  by  the  Edith  Cavell  Committee. 
fl9] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

of  danger  to  others  as  well  as  to  one's  self. 
Within  a  few  days,  and  in  spite  of  all 
precautions,  two  of  our  surgeons  have 
become  infected  from  the  wounds.  One 
has  been  invalided  home  after  facing  the 
possible  loss  of  his  arm;  the  other  is 
recovering  here.  You  see  practically 
every  bullet  or  piece  of  shrapnel  or  other 
foreign  body  carries  in  pieces  of  dirty  cloth- 
ing, earth,  etc. ;  and  conditions  are  terrible. 

We  are  not  as  busy  at  present  as  we 
were  a  few  days  ago,  but  these  days  of 
rest  make  it  possible  for  us  to  keep  up 
with  the  days  of  rush. 

You  would  be  surprised  to  see  how  very 
useful  my  languages  are.  Every  German 
wounded  prisoner  we  get,  I  have  to  inter- 
view and  obtain  particulars,  besides  cen- 
soring all  their  correspondence.  It  is 
the  same  with  the  French.     As  very  few 

[20] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

of  the  English  Sisters  have  taken  advan- 
tage of  their  stay  in  France  to  study  the 
language,  I  am  called  upon  to  interpret 
upon  all  occasions. 

Do  you  realize  that  I  am  on  my  sixth 
month?  It  does  not  seem  possible  that 
I  left  the  U.  S.  A.  so  long  ago. 

I  received  yesterday  a  nice  box  contain- 
ing two  fine  sets  of  checkers  and  boards, 
chocolates,  much  letter  paper  with  en- 
velopes and  pencils,  and  playing  cards. 
For  all  of  these  very  many  thanks  to  you 
and  others  responsible  for  the  gifts. 

Very  busy  at  present  with  shifting  forces. 
Our  army  corps  is  not  actually  the  active 
one ;  but  we  await  our  turn  patiently. 

Dear  Francesca:  Your  mother  wrote 
and  told  me  that  you  had  saved  $1  for  me 

[211 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

to  spend  on  something  for  our  wounded, 
and  to-day  I  had  the  opportunity  to  do  so. 
I  have  an  old  man  in  my  ward  who  is  53, 
but  in  order  to  get  into  the  army  he  '^  Hed  " 
and  said  he  was  38 !  Do  you  think  that 
was  very  wicked,  or  very  brave?  Well, 
he  broke  his  pipe  and  lost  his  eyeglass- 
case  in  the  trenches.  So  I  bought  him  a 
pipe  and  a  case  for  his  eyeglasses.  He  was 
so  pleased  to  know  that  it  came  from  a 
little  girl  in  America  that  he  wrote  the 
enclosed  letter  and  asked  me  to  send  it  to 
you.    He  is  such  a  fine  old  man ! 

"To  THE  Little  Girl  who  Sent  the 
Present  — 

''  Dear  little  girl,  it  is  more  than  kind  of 
you  so  far  away  to  think  of  the  British 
soldiers  in  France.  I  am  more  than 
thankful  to  receive  such  a  gift  from  you. 

[221 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

I  am  an  old  man,  and  have  had  little 
girls  of  my  own,  but  they  are  all  married. 
I  have  got  two  boys  left,  one  16  years 
and  one  11  years  of  age.  I  have  been  out 
here  as  a  volunteer  for  6  months  and  I 
have  been  in  the  front  lines;  but  I  am 
sorry  to  say  I  am  sent  down  as  unfit. 
I  may  tell  you,  all  the  regiments  that  I 
have  seen,  the  officers  and  men  are  all 
cheerful.  I  have  been  very  well  dealt 
with  in  this  Hospital.  The  Sisters  are 
very  kind,  especially  Sister  Fitzgerald. 
So,  my  little  heroine,  once  more  receive 
my  very  grateful  thanks  from 

''  Your  old  soldier, 

"  Pte  James  Wilson." 

I  have  quite  made  up  my  mind  that 
certainly  there  will  be  one  more  winter 
campaign  at  least,  if  not  more!    I  have 

[23] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

sent  my  passport  to  the  Embassy  in  Paris 
for  renewal.  Weather  dehghtful,  cool 
and  sunny,  just  right  for  fighting. 

Will  you  tell  Faith  that  I  have  been 
buying  pipes  and  giving  them  in  her  name, 
as  so  many  of  the  Tommies  needed  them  ? 
The  nice  old  man  who  got  Francesca's 
pipe  reached  home  safely,  and  wrote  me 
such  a  grateful  little  note  1 

We  had  a  visit  from  the  King  and  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  suite  lately,  which 
pleased  the  patients  immensely.  The 
King  looks  well,  but  aged.  I  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  even  in  the  very 
small  part  that  I  play,  each  day  makes  me 
a  week  older.  I  cannot  quite  explain  it. 
It  is  not  only  the  hard  work,  but  the  whole 
situation  and  atmosphere  in  which  we 
live.     At  night  the  firing  line  is  all  lighted 

[24] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

up  by  the  star  shells  sent  up  to  help  locate 
positions.  On  a  clear  day,  we  can  see 
much  of  the  activities  on  the  firing  line: 
observation  balloons,  aeroplanes,  shells 
bursting.  ...  It  makes  it  all  very  vividly 
real  that  men  are  killing  each  other  not  so 
far  away. 

Most  of  the  women  around  here  are  ref- 
ugees from  the  invaded  area,  poor  things. 
They  live  anywhere,  anyhow,  and  just 
subsist  on  as  little  as  possible.  Their 
husbands,  fathers,  brothers  are  either 
fighting  or  dead.  What  have  they  to  look 
forward  to,  with  everything  lost  and  their 
villages  probably  destroyed  ? 


[251 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 


IV 

At  a  Casualty  Clearing  Station, 
Sept.  16-Dec.  31. 

I  AM  on  my  way  to  2/2  London  Cas- 
ualty Clearing  Station,  which  will  be 
my  address  for  the  present.  I  am  very 
glad  to  be  going  where  I  am  going;  I 
fancy  it  will  be  hard  work  ahead. 

I  am  in  the  thick  of  it,  as  this  is  the 
nearest  Clearing  Station  to  the  Front. 
I  assure  you  I  am  all  but  in  the  trenches ! 
We  are  situated  in  a  horse-shoe,  with  the 
firing  line  on  three  sides.  We  can  only 
walk  a  short  distance  in  all  directions 
for  fear  of  getting  shelled.  Our  quarters 
(nurses')  are  in  small  Bell  Tents.  I  have 
a  nice  little  one  all  to  myself.     Two  days 

[26] 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 

of  pouring  rain  have  made  everything 
disappear  under  inches  of  dirty  clay 
mud. 

My  costume  these  days  consists  of 
rubber,  knee-deep  boots,  rubber  coat, 
a  sou'wester.  Going  in  and  out  of  tents, 
and  even  in  the  tents,  which  leak,  nothing 
else  is  possible. 

The  shelling  is  continuous,  air  fights 
going  on.  We  are  advancing  splendidly. 
German  prisoners  tell  me  they  are  very 
tired  of  the  war,  and  have  had  so  little  to 
eat !    I  think  the  end  is  in  sight. 

We  are  on  ground  formerly  occupied 
by  Germans,  and  see  the  trenches,  the 
empty  shell  cases,  of  the  old  scene  of 
fighting.  When  I  first  came,  there  were 
no  floors  to  the  tents,  only  the  bare 
ground.    It  rained  for  three  days ;  and  I 

[271 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

got  out  of  bed  into  a  puddle  every  morn- 
ing.    The  mud  was  something  awful. 

The  work  is  of  course  of  a  most  active 
sort.  We  get  the  patients  by  ambu- 
lances from  the  field  hospitals,  and  we 
sort  them.  The  operative  cases  are 
operated  upon;  those  too  ill  to  travel 
are  settled  comfortably;  and  others  are 
dressed,  fed,  and  sent  on  by  train  to  the 
base.  They  pass  through  our  hands  by 
the  hundreds.  I  could  not  imagine  that 
men  could  live  with  such  awful  wounds ; 
in  civil  life  they  would  die  of  fright 
alone. 

I  am  right  in  the  thick  of  it  now ;  and 
the  shells  whiz  by  our  ears  in  great 
style.  It  is  queer  that,  where  there  is 
such  real  danger,  one  does  not  think  of  it. 

I  have  charge  of  two  tents  which  hold 
from  60  to  70  wounded  each,  and  they 

[281 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

have  been  so  covered  with  stretchers 
that  I  had  to  crawl  in  and  out  to  get 
through.  It  is  awfully  hard  work  nurs- 
ing a  patient  on  a  stretcher  which  only 
stands  about  6"  from  the  ground;  and 
I  sometimes  wish  I  were  not  so  tall! 

We  are  in  the  wilderness;  even  news- 
papers do  not  come  regularly ;  and  as  for 
mail,  I  have  not  seen  any  since  I  came. 
I  was  able  to  get  money  on  my  letter  of 
credit  at  Abbeville  where  I  stopped  over, 
so  I  am  settled  for  three  or  four  months. 
Dr.  Lord^s  little  daughter  sent  me  a 
second  bundle  of  knitted  wash  rags, 
which  were  most  welcome. 

I  am  just  as  happy  as  the  day  is  long, 
working  in  my  little  tent-ward,  and  try- 
ing to  help  the  poor  fellows.  Soldiers 
are  really  wonderful.  They  go  to  fight 
with  a  smile;   they  come  back  half  dead 

[29] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

with  a  smile.  The  least  we  can  do  is  to 
make  them  as  happy  and  comfortable 
as  we  can.  Nothing  is  too  good  for 
them. 

I  went  through  the  wonderfully  inter- 
esting spot  quite  lately,  German  dugouts, 
shell  holes,  craters,  etc.,  etc.  As  far  as 
noises  are  concerned,  I  do  not  believe 
there  are  any  which  I  have  not  heard.  If 
noises  could  kill,  we  should  all  be  corpses. 
It  is  roar,  roar,  roar,  day  and  night,  — 
guns  nearer  by  with  their  louder  reports, 
air  craft  fights,  anti-air-craft  guns,  bombs 
exploding,  German  shells  whizzing  over 
our  camp.  And  with  it  all,  it  is  a  blessing 
to  be  busy. 

As  to  the  question  of  "leave,"  my  getting 
away  just  now  is  absolutely  impossible, 
unless  I  am  taken  in  a  ''box'^  —  which  is 

[30] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

perfectly  possible.  We  are  in  constant 
danger  from  enemy  shells ;  and  the  Taubes 
have  dropped  bombs  only  a  few  yards 
away  from  us. 

About  a  week  ago,  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  I  woke  up  at  the  sound  of  the  drop- 
ping of  bombs  nearer  and  nearer,  until  one 
came  down  so  near  that  the  vibration 
simply  knocked  me  out  of  bed.  Such  a 
noise !  The  shrapnel  from  it  went  through 
the  roof  of  our  two  wards  which  were 
empty  just  then.  If  you  go  out  walk- 
ing, you  are  suddenly  startled  by  the 
whizzing  of  a  shell  until  you  get  quite 
jerky !  I  do  not  mind  it  a  bit,  however, 
and  feel  that  there  is  great  need  of  nurses 
Vay  up  front  like  this. 

I  suppose  you  have  read  about  the 
"  Tanks ' '  ?  I  went  into  one  the  other  day, 
—  pure  cheek!    Every  one   laughs,  and 

[31] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

says,  "Trust  U.  S.  A.  to  get  there!" 
The  officer  in  charge  looked  so  surprised 
to  see  me,  and  said,  '^  Where  on  earth 
did  you  drop  from?'' 

Could  I  trouble  you  to  have  one  thing 
sent  out  to  me  of  which  I  am  in  urgent 
need?  Refills  for  my  flash-lamp,  as  we 
cannot  get  candles  for  love  or  money, 
and  I  must  have  some  lighting. 

The  winter  is  with  us.  I  am  glad  to  say 
that  huts  have  been  put  up  for  us.  We 
left  our  tents  ten  days  ago.  The  huts 
have  roofs  and  sides  of  corrugated  iron 
which  will  prevent  shrapnel  and  small 
pieces  of  shell  from  reaching  us.  The 
tents  were  anything  but  safe. 

I  am  crippled  with  chilblains  on  my 
feet  and  hands.  Those  on  my  feet  are 
made  worse  by  having  to  wear  high  rubber 

[321 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

boots  in  this  perpetual  rain  and  mud. 
Never  knew  I  had  feet  before. 

Have  I  ever  told  you  that  my  messing 
expenses  here  are  just  as  they  were  before, 
that  is,  4  francs  daily?  This  month 
there  will  be  some  winter  equipment, 
including  a  pair  of  rubber  boots.  Would 
you  believe  it  possible  that  I  have  worn 
one  pair  down,  in  these  few  weeks,  on 
account  of  the  awful  mud  which  they 
have  sprinkled  with  the  sharpest  stones 
you  ever  saw,  to  prevent  our  sinking  right 
in?  Wandering  around  after  dark,  even 
with  a  hurricane  lamp,  is  a  dangerous  per- 
formance. 

I  do  hope  that  U.  S.  A.  are  going  to 
take  a  stand  about  the  submarines. 

It  is  quite  wonderful  how  these  huts 

[33] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

deaden  the  ceaseless  noise  of  the  shelHng. 
At  times  I  almost  forget  where  I  am, 
until  "Big  Liz'^  or  some  one  else  peals 
forth  an  extra  loud  salute.  That '  ^  shakes ' ' 
me  back  to  the  reality  of  the  situation. 
I  know  you  will  all  have  a  happy  Xmas. 
I  hear  rumors  of  a  turkey  and  plum  pud- 
ding for  our  mess.  It  will  taste  very  good 
after  months  of  "bully  beef  ^'  and  tinned 
things.  However,  in  spite  of  food  and 
other  things  which  are  not  quite  perfect, 
I  am  feeling  splendidly  and  not  planning 
as  yet  on  leave.  I  think  I  shall  ask  for  it, 
however,  before  my  12  months  are  up,  or 
I  shall  lose  it  altogether  for  this  year. 


[34] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 


London  and  Boulogne, 
Jan.-Feb.,  1917. 

I  HAVE  been  granted  3  weeks'  leave 
and  shall  report  back  for  duty 
January  the  22nd.  I  have  no  idea  where 
I  shall  be  sent  on  my  return  to  France. 
I  shall  find  my  orders  on  landing. 

The  crossing  is  made  quite  horribly 
uncomfortable  by  having  to  wear  a  life 
belt.  I  can  recommend  it  as  an  instru- 
ment of  torture  when  you  would  like  to 
lie  back  comfortably  in  a  steamer  chair ! 

After  three  weeks  in  London  I  came  over 
on  the  24th^  and  was  delighted  to  find  that 
my  orders  were  to  report  at  13  General 
Hospital,    where    I    started    last    March 

[351 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

and  where  I  was  keenly  anxious  to 
return. 

We  live  in  billets  here  in  a  hotel,  and  the 
expenses  will  be  higher  than  when  we  mess 
in  camp. 

It  is  awfully  cold,  in  fact  the  coldest 
weather  which  has  been  known  in  years. 
As  there  is  no  heat  in  the  building,  I  am 
still  hugging  my  little  oil  lamp.  But  it  is 
far  more  comfortable  than  a  hut  anyway ! 

What  an  excitement  over  U.  S.  A. 
affairs!  I  am  being  greeted  as  a  "half 
ally^^  now,  waiting  for  the  declaration 
of  war  to  become  a  "full  one.*'  Things 
are  getting  very  tense.  The  air  is  full  of 
electricity  or  rather  of  activity:  what? 
when?  where? 

Who  knows  ? 


[36] 


EDITH  CAVELL 
Her  Imprisonment,  Trial,  and  Death 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 


The  Message  of  Edith  Cavell 

A  MEETING  in  honor  of  Edith  Cavell 
was  held  at  Steinert  Hall  on  Decem- 
ber 11.  "In  honor ?'^  questioned  Profes- 
sor George  H.  Palmer,  who  presided.  "It 
is  difficult  to  find  a  suitable  word  to  express 
our  feeling.  We  cannot  honor  her.  She 
gives  us  honor.  But  in  this  meeting  to- 
night, held  simultaneously  with  one  in 
Canada,  there  is  thanksgiving  for  her  go- 
ing up  from  two  great  countries  at  once." 
In  the  courageous,  self-forgetful,  truth- 
loving  life  of  Edith  Cavell  we  meet,  with 
an  extraordinary  sense  of  intimacy,  a 
woman  so  beautiful  of  soul  that  I  v/ant 
every  teacher  in  the  land  and  every  child 
in  school  to  hear  the  story  of  her  sacrifice. 

[39] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

Nine  years  ago  she  went  to  Brussels,  and 
established  a  training  school.  Up  to  the 
time  the  war  broke  out  hundreds  of  Belgian 
and  German  nurses  had  come  to  it.  It  was 
characteristic  of  Miss  Cavell  that  fearing 
the  indignation  of  the  Belgians  might  make 
it  difficult  for  the  German  nurses  to  get 
home,  she  herself  escorted  them  safely 
across  the  frontier. 

Then  came  the  care  of  the  wounded. 
She  nursed  Germans  and  Belgians  alike 
during  the  long  breathless  year  from 
August,  1914,  to  August,  1915.  Sud- 
denly she  was  arrested;  held  for  ten 
weeks  in  prison;  then  summarily  shot. 

And  why  did  Miss  Cavell  receive  a 
sentence  of  death  after  a  trial  of  two  days  ? 
She  had  harbored  and  helped  across  the 
frontier  some  English  and  French  soldiers 
and  some  young  Belgians.    When  asked 

1401 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

why  she  did  this,  she  said  that  she  thought 
that  had  she  not  done  so  they  would  have 
been  shot  by  the  Germans,  and  that  she 
only  did  her  duty  to  her  country  in  saving 
their  lives.  "  Treason, '' the  German  mili- 
tary penal  code  called  this  act.  Long 
ago  in  New  England,  Ralph  Waldo  Emer- 
son wrote  that  no  house  was  complete 
that  did  not  have  a  room  in  which  to  hide 
a  fugitive  slave.  Treason,  did  we  call  it  ? 
At  five  in  the  afternoon  of  October  12 
Edith  Cavell  was  condemned  to  death. 
Next  morning  at  2  o'clock,  the  darkest 
hour  of  night,  with  no  dawn  lighting  the 
sky,  she  was  shot.  Late  the  evening 
before  an  English  chaplain,  Mr.  Gahan, 
was  admitted  to  her  cell  to  give  her  the 
Holy  Communion.  The  words  of  that  in- 
terview are  precious,  shining,  miraculous. 
She  said,  smiling:    "I  am  not  afraid  to 

141] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

die,  I  have  seen  death  so  often  that  it  is 
not  terrible  to  me."  Then  of  her  impris- 
onment, "I  am  so  thankful  for  these  ten 
weeks  of  quiet.  Life  has  always  been  so 
hurried.  They  have  been  very  good  to 
me."  And  finally,  "But  I  realize  that 
patriotism  is  not  enough ;  one  must  have 
no  hatred,  no  bitterness. ' '  With  her  friend 
she  recited  the  words  of  "Abide  with 
Me,"  and  when  he  said  a  last  farewell, 
answered  clear-eyed:  "We  shall  meet 
again." 

Gathered  together  at  the  memorial 
service  for  Miss  Cavell  we  found,  I  think, 
pearls  of  great  price.  The  qualities  of 
courage  and  of  truth  have  often  been 
thought  of  as  belonging  to  men  rather 
than  to  women.  Miss  Cavell  had  courage 
to  face  both  life  and  death.  In  loyalty  to 
truth  she  calmly  gave  evidence  that  made 

[42] 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 

her  condemnation  certain.  That  death 
she  met  for  her  country  and  even  more  for 
God.  Her  last  words  fall  like  words 
from  the  Gospel:  ''One  must  have  no 
hatred  or  bitterness."  Neutrality  is  a 
colorless  and  often  a  craven  attitude; 
forgiveness  of  enemies  is  the  dawn  of  a 
renewed  Christianity.  "If  thine  enemy 
hunger,  feed  him.'^  She  had  fed  the 
wounded  German  soldiers.  "Bless  them 
that  curse  you."  "They  have  been  very 
good  to  me,"  she  said.  "I  am  thankful 
for  the  peace  of  these  ten  weeks."  Surely 
to  find  peace  through  days  when  one's  life 
is  at  stake  passeth  understanding,  and 
brings  the  spirit  of  heaven  upon  earth. 

At  the  memorial  meeting  of  which  I 
spoke,  it  was  voted  that  a  fund  be  raised  in 
honor  of  Miss  Cavell  to  offer  the  British 
War  Office  a  nurse  who  should  serve  at 

[43] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

the  front,  nursing  both  the  EngHsh  and 
their  wounded  prisoners.  This  use  of  her 
fund  would,  I  think,  satisfy  Miss  Cavell. 
''Her  execution,"  said  Samuel  M.  Crothers, 
"is  a  deed  that  strikes  at  the  heart  of 
Christianity  and  of  chivalry."  True,  and 
for  that  reason,  only  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity itself  and  of  womanhood,  such  as  that 
of  Edith  Cavell,  are  strong  enough  to  rise 
unharmed  from  the  agony  of  this  war, 
irresistible,  forever  returning  blessings  for 

curses. 

Ella  Lyman  Cabot. 


144] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 


EDITH  CAVELL* 


EDITH  CAVELL  was  born  in  1872 
at  the  village  of  Swardeston,  Norfolk, 
of  which  her  father  was  rector.  During 
her  childhood,  Florence  Nightingale's  life- 
work  was  beginning  to  bear  fruit  in  a  great 
development  of  trained  nursing  in  Eng- 
land. The  girls  of  Edith  Caveirs  genera- 
tion found  a  wonderful  field  of  service 
opening  before  them.  Edith  Cavell  her- 
self was  one  of  those  that  entered  it. 
Miss  Cavell  began  her  training  at  the 

^  Reprinted,  in  abridged  form,  from  **The  Death 
of  Edith  Cavell,"  a  pamphlet  published  by  the  Daily 
News  and  Ledger,  London  and  Manchester. 
[45] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

London  Hospital  when  she  was  twenty- 
one.  She  quaHfied  in  1896,  and  distin- 
guished herself  by  ten  years  of  responsible 
work  in  England.  In  1906  Miss  Cavell 
was  asked  to  be  the  first  directress  of  a 
"Belgian  School  of  Certified  Nurses"  in 
process  of  foundation  at  Brussels.  In 
addition  to  her  professional  experience  and 
enthusiasm,  she  was  especially  qualified 
for  the  task  by  the  fact  that  she  had 
spent  several  years  of  her  girlhood  in 
Brussels  at  school,  and  so  was  already 
familiar  with  Belgian  life.  The  patrons 
of  the  new  Nursing  Institute  looked 
forward  to  the  great  development  of  the 
nursing  profession  in  Belgium  under  Miss 
Cavell.  But  in  the  eighth  year  of  her 
pioneer-work  came  the  war. 


[46] 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 


II 

The  Arrest 

SHE  was  spending  a  holiday  with  her 
mother  in  England  at  the  moment 
war  broke  out.  There  would  be  work 
in  Brussels  for  her  to  do,  and  she  returned 
immediately  to  do  it. 

She  arrived  in  time  to  share  the  terrible 
experience  of  the  German  entry  into  the 
Belgian  capital.  The  Training  Institute 
transformed  itself  under  Miss  CavelFs  di- 
rection into  a  hospital  for  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers.  Belgians,  Frenchmen,  and  Eng- 
lishmen, as  well  as  the  German  invaders, 
all  came  under  her  impartial  care.  She 
nursed  friend  and  foe  with  single-minded 

[47] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

devotion.  But  she  did  not  limit  her 
services  to  this.  She  took  counsel  with 
her  Belgian  friends,  and  succeeded;  with 
their  assistance,  in  conveying  many  of 
her  French,  British,  and  Belgian  patients, 
as  they  recovered,  to  the  farther  side  of 
the  Dutch  Frontier,  that  they  might  fight 
again  for  the  common  cause  instead  of 
undergoing  whatever  fate  the  German 
authorities  allotted  to  convalescent  pris- 
oners-of-war.  She  also  helped  in  the 
escape  of  Belgian  civilians  of  military 
age,  who  had  been  overtaken,  before  they 
could  join  the  colors,  by  the  rapidity  of 
the  German  advance,  and  were  being 
held  at  home  in  virtual  captivity. 

So  she  worked  for  a  year  —  a  year  of 
military  nursing,  and  nine  months  of 
friendship  in  need  to  her  friends  and 
fellow-countrymen  —  until  the  German 

148] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

Administration  in  Belgium  discovered  her 
share  in  the  escapes. 

On  August  5th,  1915,  Edith  Cavell 
was  arrested  at  her  hospital  by  soldiers, 
and  carried  away  to  the  military  prison  of 
St.-GiUes. 


1491 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 


III 

The  American  Legation  Intervenes 

EDITH  CAVELL  had  been  three  weeks 
in  prison  before  her  family  in  England 
heard  of  her  arrest,  and  then  they  only 
heard  of  it  privately  from  a  traveller  who 
happened  to  have  come  from  Belgium 
since  the  event.  They  communicated  the 
news  to  the  Foreign  Office,  and  action  was 
immediately  taken  by  Sir  Edward  Grey. 
Sir  Edward  sent  a  note  on  August  26th  to 
Mr.  Page,  the  United  States  Ambassador 
in  London,  requesting  him  to  inquire  of 
the  United  States  Minister  at  Brussels 
by  telegraph,  whether  the  report  of  Miss 
CavelFs  arrest  were   correct,   and,   if  it 

[50] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

were,  what  reason  had  been  alleged  in 
explanation. 

Mr.  Page  telegraphed  to  his  colleague 
at  Brussels,  Mr.  Whitlock,  next  morn- 
ing; and  four  days  later,  on  August 
31st,  Mr.  Whitlock  addressed  an  inquiry 
on  the  subject  to  Baron  von  der  Lancken, 
the  chief  of  the  "Political  Department 
(Politische  Abteilung)  of  the  German 
Military  Government  in  the  conquered 
territory.  After  waiting  ten  days  without 
being  vouchsafed  an  answer,  Mr.  Whitlock 
followed  it  up  in  another  note  on  Septem- 
ber 10th : 

"The  United  States  Minister  presents 
his  compliments  to  Baron  von  der  Lancken 
and  has  the  honour  to  draw  his  Excel- 
lency's attention  to  his  letter  of  the  31st 
August,  respecting  the  arrest  of  Miss  Cavell, 
to  which  no  reply  has  yet  been  received. 

151] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

"As  the  Minister  has  been  requested  by 
telegraph  to  take  charge  of  Miss  Cavell's 
defence  without  delay,  he  would  be  greatly 
obliged  if  Baron  von  der  Lancken  would 
enable  him  to  take  forthwith  such  steps 
as  may  be  necessary  for  this  defence,  and 
to  answer  by  telegraph  to  the  despatch 
which  he  has  received." 

The  Chief  of  the  German  "Political 
Department"  could  not  ignore  the  Ameri- 
can Minister  at  Brussels  a  second  time. 
Baron  von  der  Lancken  wrote  in  reply : 

"Political  Department 

OF    THE 

Governor-General  in  Belgium. 

I.  6940. 

"  Brussels, 

"  September  12,  1915. 

"In  reply  to  your  Excellency's  note  of 
the  31st  ultimo,  I  have  the  honour  to 
inform  you  that  Miss  Edith  Cavell  was 

1621 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

arrested  on  the  5th  August,  and  that  she 
is  at  present  in  the  MiHtary  prison  of 
St.-Gilles. 

"She  has  herself  admitted  that  she  con- 
cealed in  her  house  French  and  English 
soldiers,  as  well  as  Belgians  of  military 
age,  all  desirous  of  proceeding  to  the  front. 
She  has  also  admitted  having  furnished 
these  soldiers  with  the  money  necessary 
for  their  journey  to  France,  and  having 
facilitated  their  departure  from  Belgium 
by  providing  them  with  guides,  who 
enabled  them  to  cross  the  Dutch  Frontier 
secretly. 

"  Miss  Caveirs  defence  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  advocate  Braun,  who,  I  may  add, 
is  already  in  touch  with  the  competent 
German  authorities. 

"In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Governor-General  as  a  matter 

[531 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

of  principle  does  not  allow  accused  persons 

to  have  any  interviews  whatever,  I  much 

regret  my  inability  to  procure  for  M.  de 

Leval  permission  to  visit  Miss  Cavell  as 

long  as  she  is  in  solitary  confinement. 

I  avail,  etc., 

Lancken." 


[54] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

IV 

M.  de  Leval  Takes  Steps 

MDE  LEVAL,  whose  name  is  referred 
•  to  in  Baron  von  der  Lancken^s  final 
reply,  is  a  Belgian  advocate  retained  as 
Legal  Counsellor  by  the  United  States 
Legation  in  the  Belgian  capital.  In  a  re- 
port which  he  drew  up  for  Mr.  Whitlock 
after  the  tragedy  was  over,  he  very  clearly 
describes  the  successive  steps  he  took  in 
the  case. 

As  he  might  not  see  Miss  Cavell,  M.  de 
Leval  got  into  touch  with  her  advocate, 
M.  Braun.  At  his  request  M.  Braun  came 
to  call  on  him  at  the  Legation  a  few  days 
later.  It  appeared  that  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Brussels  Bar,  and  that  he  had  been 

[55] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

asked  by  personal  friends  of  Miss  Cavell 
to  defend  her  before  the  German  Court; 
"but  owing  (he  said)  to  some  unforeseen 
circumstances  he  was  prevented  from 
pleading  before  that  Court."  This,  then, 
was  the  outcome  of  his  dealings  with 
"the  competent  German  authorities."  M. 
Braim  added  that  "he  had  asked  M.  Kir- 
schen,  a  member  (likewise)  of  the  Brussels 
Bar,  and  his  friend,  to  take  up  the  case 
and  plead  for  Miss  Cavell,  and  that 
M.  Kirschen  had  agreed  to  do  so." 


[561 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 


The  Advocate  Kirschen 

MDE  LEVAL  took  the  only  possible 
•  course.  He  put  himself  in  touch 
with  M.  Kirschen,  who,  after  a  slight 
further  delay,  accorded  him  the  interview 
for  which  he  asked.  In^the  course  of  this 
interview  M.  Kirschen 

(i)  Informed  him  that  the  lawyers  de- 
fending prisoners  before  the  German  Mili- 
tary Court  were  not  allowed  to  see  their  clients 
before  the  trial,  and  were  not  shown  any 
document  of  the  prosecution.  This,  he 
added,  was  in  accordance  with  the  German 
military  rules. 

(ii)     He  declared  that   the  hearing  of 

[571 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

the  trial  of  such  cases  was  carried  out 
very  carefully,  and  that,  in  his  opinion, 
although  it  was  not  possible  to  see  the 
client  before  the  trial,  in  fact  the  trial  itself 
developed  so  carefully  and  so  slowly,  that 
it  was  generally  possible  to  have  a  fair 
knowledge  of  all  the  facts  and  to  present 
a  good  defence  for  the  prisoner.  This 
would  specially  be  the  case  for  Miss 
Cavell,  because  the  trial  would  he  rather 
long,  as  she  was  prosecuted  with  thirty- 
four  other  prisoners. 

(iii)  On  learning  of  M.  de  LevaPs 
intention  to  be  present  at  the  trial,  so  as 
to  watch  the  case,  M.  Kirschen  strongly 
dissuaded  him  from  doing  so.  He  thought 
that  if  the  Germans  would  admit  M.  de 
LevaPs  presence,  which  was  very  doubtful, 
it  would  in  any  case  cause  prejudice  to 
Miss  Cavell. 

[581 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 


(iv)  He  promised  that  he  would  keep 
M.  de  Leval  posted  on  all  the  developments 
which  the  case  might  take,  and  would  report 
to  him  the  exact  charges  that  were  brought 
against  Miss  Cavell,  and  the  facts  con- 
cerning her  that  would  be  disclosed  at 
the  trial,  so  as  to  allow  him  to  judge 
for  himself  about  the  merits  of  the 
case. 

(v)  He  insisted  that  he  would  do  all 
that  was  humanly  possible  to  defend  Miss 
Cavell  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 

With  this,  M.  Kirschen  took  his  depar- 
ture, leaving  things  very  much  where  they 
were  before. 

So  darkness  descended  again  on  the  case 
for  another  three  weeks,  until,  on  Monday, 
October  4th,  M.  Kirschen  duly  notified 
M.  de  Leval  that  the  trial  was  to  begin 
on  the  following  Thursday,  October  7th. 

[5Q] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  news,  M.  de  Leval 
immediately  wrote  M.  Kirschen  a  letter 
'^  confirming  in  writing  in  the  name  of  the 
Legation  the  arrangement  that  had  been 
made  between  them  at  their  previous 
interview." 

"Brussels, 

•'Octobers,  1915. 

"Sir, 

"I  thank  you  for  the  letter  you  were  so 
good  as  to  address  to  M.  de  Leval,  in  which 
you  informed  him  that  Miss  Cavell's  case 
would  come  before  the  court-martial  at 
8  A.M.  next  Thursday.  In  pursuance  of 
the  arrangement  already  come  to,  I  should 
be  most  grateful  if  you  will  be  so  good  as 
to  send  me,  after  the  hearing,  a  mem- 
orandum setting  forth  the  acts  for  which 
Miss  Cavell  is  being  prosecuted,  and  stat- 
ing the  charges  which  are  brought  against 

[60] 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 

her  at  the  hearing,  and  also  the  sentence 
passed. 

"  I  am,  etc. 

"  (For  the  Minister), 
"  G.  DE  Leval, 

"  Legal  Adviser  to  the 
Legation^ 

This  letter  was  delivered  to  M.  Kirschen 
by  a  messenger  of  the  Legation,  and 
M.  de  Leval  waited  anxiously  for  his  next 
report. 


[611 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 


VI 

The  Trial 

ON  Thursday,  October  7th,  the  trial  of 
Edith  Cavell  and  her  fellow-pris- 
oners began.  It  was  nine  weeks  since  her 
first  arrest  and  imprisonment.  That  had 
been  on  August  5th,  and  all  this  time 
she  had  been  retained  (unconvicted  though 
she  was)  in  solitary  confinement,  cut  off 
from  communion  with  her  friends  and 
from  all  intercourse  whatsoever  with  the 
outside  world. 

M.  de  Leval  has  embodied  in  his  report 
a  very  exact  account  of  the  proceedings, 
which  he  afterwards  obtained  from  some 
one  who  had  taken  part  in  them.    We  may 

[621 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

say  at  once  that  this  informant  was  not 
M.  Kirschen. 

"Miss  Cavell  (says  M.  de  LevaFs  in- 
formant) was  prosecuted  for  having  helped 
EngHsh  and  French  soldiers,  as  well  as 
Belgian  young  men,  to  cross  the  frontier 
and  to  go  over  to  England.  She  had 
admitted  by  signing  a  statement  before 
the  day  of  the  trial,  and  by  public  acknowl- 
edgment in  Court,  in  the  presence  of  all 
the  other  prisoners,  and  the  lawyers,  that 
she  was  guilty  of  the  charges  brought 
against  her." 

The  German  Military  Code  says : 

"Will  be  sentenced  to  death  for  treason 
any  person  who  is  guilty  of  .  .  .  conduct- 
ing soldiers  to  the  enemy  .  .  .  (viz. :  'dem 
Feinde  Mannschaften  zufiihrtO- 

"The  penalties  apply,  in  case  of  war, 
to  foreigners  as  well  as  to  Germans." 

[63] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

Now  Edith  Cavell  did  not  succor  her 
friends  and  compatriots  in  distress  because 
she  thought  she  could  do  so  with  impunity. 
She  succored  them,  in  the  first  place,  from 
pure  humanity  —  a  humanity  which  has 
been  shown  by  women  through  all  ages  to 
fugitives  wounded  and  in  distress;  and, 
in  the  second  place,  because  she  thought 
(as  she  declared  in  Court)  that  she  was 
doing  her  unquestionable  duty  to  her 
country.  But  she  knew  all  the  while  that 
she  was  doing  it  at  the  risk  of  her  life; 
and  she  willingly  responded  to  her  in- 
quisitors by  an  admission  of  all,  and  more 
than  all,  their  charges. 

In  defending  their  conduct,  the  Ger- 
mans lay  great  stress  on  the  fact  that  their 
victim  had  done  what  she  did  with  open 
eyes.  Here,  for  instance,  is  a  quotation 
from  a  statement  to  an  American  journalist 

[64] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

by  Herr  Zimmermann,  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Under-Secretary-of-State  for  Foreign 
Affairs : 

"In  the  Cavell  case  we  are  in  presence  of 
a  well-thought-out,  world-wide  conspiracy 
which  succeeded  for  nine  months  in  render- 
ing the  most  valuable  service  to  the  enemy 
to  the  disadvantage  of  our  Army. 

^^  Countless  British,  Belgian,  and  French 
soldiers  are  now  again  fighting  in  the  Allies' 
ranks  who  owe  their  escape  from  Belgium 
to  the  activity  of  the  band  now  sentenced, 
at  the  head  of  which  stood  Miss  Cavell. 

"With  such  a  situation  under  the  eyes 
of  the  authorities  only  the  utmost  severity 
can  bring  relief,  and  a  Government  violates 
the  most  elementary  duty  towards  its 
army  that  does  not  adopt  the  strictest 
measures." 

Who  were  the  Englishmen,  Frenchmen, 

[65] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

and  Belgians  in  this  case  ?  They  were  not 
invaderS;  or  raiders,  or  spies.  They  were 
men  wounded  or  missing  from  armies 
fighting  for  the  Hberty  of  the  country  in 
which  they  found  themselves,  or  they  were 
citizens  of  that  countiy  seeking  an  oppor- 
tunity to  give  her  their  service. 

Most  of  them  were  natives  and  citizens 
of  Belgium,  while  Edith  Cavell  —  the 
"head  of  the  conspiracy/'  as  Herr  Zim- 
mermann  prefers  to  call  her  —  had  come 
to  Belgium,  on  the  invitation  of  the 
Belgians  themselves,  to  carry  out  a  work 
of  public  beneficence,  on  which  she  had 
already  been  engaged  for  more  than  eight 
years.  And  the  acts  for  which  they  were 
now  arraigned  were  likewise  acts  of  mercy, 
which  women,  at  any  rate  (and  many  of 
the  "band"  were  women,  besides  their 
"head'O;    have    never    refused    to    per- 

[66] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

form    on    behalf    of    fellow-creatures    in 
distress. 

These  were  the  people  against  whom  the 
German  administration  was  obliged  to 
^^ adopt  the  strictest  measures/'  for  fear 
of  "violating  the  most  elementary  duty 
towards  its  army."  Herr  Zinmiermann's 
phrases  are  so  complacent  and  so  officially 
correct,  that  it  needs  an  effort  to  remind 
ourselves  what  that  army  actually  was. 
It  was  the  German  Army  which  had  in- 
vaded without  provocation  a  country 
whose  inviolability  the  German  Govern- 
ment had  solenmly  guaranteed.  It  was 
the  army  which  had  treated  the  helpless 
and  innocent  population  among  whom  it 
came  as  no  invaded  people  for  centuries 
had  been  treated  by  European  soldiers 
—  the  army  that  plundered  and  burnt  and 
slaughtered  and  ravished.    The  German 

[671 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

Army,  it  is  to  be  supposed,  had  committed 
itself  to  its  career  of  ^'fright fulness''  in 
Belgium  in  order  not  to  fail  in  its  duty 
towards  the  German  Government;  and 
now  the  Government  was  inflicting  the 
same  ^'f rightfulness"  on  Miss  Cavell  in 
order  to  carry  out  its  duty  to  the  Army. 

It  is  not  an  unimportant  point  that, 
even  under  the  German  Military  Law  by 
which  she  was  tried,  Edith  Cavell  was 
rendered  amenable  to  the  death-penalty 
only  by  evidence  which  she  volunteered 
of  her  own  accord,  and  which  no  one  else 
could  have  obtained  against  her.  M.  de 
Leval's  informant  told  him  that : 

"She  had  acknowledged  not  only  that 
she  had  helped  these  soldiers  to  cross  the 
frontier,  but  also  that  some  of  them  had 
thanked  her  in  writing  when  arriving  in 
England.     This  last  admission  made  her 

[681 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 


case  so  much  the  more  serious,  because  if 
it  only  had  been  proved  against  her  that 
she  had  helped  the  soldiers  to  traverse  the 
Dutch  Frontier,  and  no  proof  was  produced 
that  these  soldiers  had  reached  a  country 
at  war  with  Germany,  she  could  only  have 
been  sentenced  for  an  attempt  to  commit 
the  'crime/  and  not  for  the  'crime'  being 
duly  accomplished/' 

That  was  one  point  in  the  case,  but  there 
is  another  which  would  have  appealed  still 
more  directly  to  any  judge.  Edith  Cavell 
was  a  nurse,  constant  to  the  ideals  of  her 
calling.  If  part  of  her  efforts  had  been 
given,  during  those  nine  months,  to  assist- 
ing her  convalescent  patients  to  escape, 
her  daily  labors  were  spent,  as  they 
always  had  been,  on  the  unconditional 
service  of  the  sick.  She  had  not  only 
succored  the  English,  French,   and  Bel- 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

gian  wounded  that  came  under  her  care; 
she  had  nursed  Germans  as  well  —  nursed 
them  back  to  life  that  they  might  fight 
again  for  their  own  country,  with  just  the 
same  devotion  as  she  displayed  to  those 
others  whom  she  was  sending  home  to 
fight  for  a  cause  which  was  hers  as  well  as 
theirs. 

That  service  to  their  wounded  comrades 
should  have  made  Edith  Cavell's  life 
sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the  German  oflficers 
who  condemned  her  to  death.  It  should 
have  reprieved  her  even  if  she  had  been  a 

spy. 

But  the  German  authorities  were  not 
governed  by  such  considerations. 

"Once  for  all''  (states  Herr  Zimmer- 
mann),  "the  activity  of  our  enemies  has 
been  stopped,  and  the  sentence  has  been 
carried  out  to  frighten  those  who  may 

[70] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

presume  on  their  sex  to  take  part  in 
enterprises  punishable  with  death." 

The  narrative  of  the  trial  which  M.  de 
Leval  had  from  his  informant,  and  which 
he  incorporated  in  his  own  Report,  con- 
tinues thus:  "In  her  oral  statement 
before  the  Court,  Miss  Cavell  disclosed 
almost  all  the  facts  of  the  whole  prosecu- 
tion. She  was  questioned  in  German,  an 
interpreter  translating  all  the  questions 
in  French,  with  which  language  Miss 
Cavell  was  well  acquainted.  She  spoke 
without  trembling  and  showed  a  clear 
mind.  Often  she  added  some  greater 
precision  to  her  previous  depositions. 

"When  she  was  asked  why  she  helped 
these  soldiers  to  go  to  England,  she  replied 
that  she  thought  that  if  she  had  not  done 
so  they  would  have  been  shot  by  the 
Germans,  and  that  therefore  she  thought 

•       [71] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

she  only  did  her  duty  to  her  country  in 
saving  their  lives. 

^^  The  Military  Prosecutor,  however,  asked 
the  Court  to  pass  a  death  sentence  on  Miss 
Cavell  and  eight  other  prisoners  amongst 
the  thirty-five.  The  Court  did  not  seem  to 
agree,  and  the  judgment  was  postponed. 
The  person  informing  me  said  he  thought 
that  the  Court  would  not  go  to  the  extreme 
limit.'' 


[72] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 


VII 

Kirschen^s  Silence  and  Conrad^s 
Assurances 

THE  Court  rose  on  Friday,  October  8th, 
one  day  after  its  sitting  had  begun. 
Meanwhile,  M.  de  Leval  was  waiting  for 
M.  Kirschen's  next  communication.  He 
did  not  expect  to  hear  that  the  Court  had 
risen  —  M.  Kirschen  had  himself  assured 
him  that  "the  hearing  would  be  carried 
out  very  carefully  and  the  trial  would  be 
rather  long/'  His  astonishment  was 
therefore  considerable  when  he  was  in- 
formed by  an  outsider  that  "the  trial 
had  taken  place,  though  no  judgment 
would  be  reached  till  a  few  days  later.'' 
This  was  on  Saturday,  October  9th,  and 

[73] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

not  a  word  from  M.  Kirschen  had  been 
received. 

"Receiving  no  report  from  M.  Kir- 
schen/^ continues  M.  de  Leval,  ''I  tried  to 
find  him,  but  failed.  I  then  sent  him  a 
note  on  Sunday,  asking  him  to  send  his 
report  to  the  Legation  or  call  there  on 
Monday  morning  at  8.30.  "...  On 
Monday  morning  I  was  very  much  sur- 
prised still  to  receive  no  news  from  M.  Kir- 
schen, and  I  called  at  his  house  at  12.30 ; 
but  I  was  informed  that  he  would  not  be 
there  till  about  the  end  of  the  afternoon. 
I  then  called,  at  12.40,  at  the  house  of 
another  lawyer  interested  in  the  case  of  a 
fellow-prisoner,  and  found  that  he  also 
was  out.  In  the  afternoon,  however,  the 
latter  lawyer  called  at  my  house,  saying 
that  in  the  morning  he  had  heard  from 
the  German  Kommandatur  that  judgment 

[741 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 

would  be  passed  only  the  next  morning  — 
viz.  Tuesday  morning.  He  said  that  he 
feared  that  the  Court  would  be  very  severe 
for  all  the  prisoners. 

"Shortly  after,  this  lawyer  left   me." 

And  that  is  the  last  that  has  been  heard 
of  M.  Kirschen. 

On  Sunday  evening,  the  narrative  of 
the  trial  which  we  have  quoted  above 
was  communicated  to  M.  de  Leval  by  a 
private  person  who  had  been  a  wit- 
ness of  the  proceedings;  and  on  re- 
ceipt of  this  information,  M.  de  Leval  did 
not  wait  to  hear  the  last  of  M.  Kirschen 
before  addressing  himself  directly  to  the 
German  Governor-Generars  "  Political 
Department."  It  will  be  better  to  give 
his  account  of  what  followed  in  his  own 
words : 

'^  After  I  had  found  out  these  facts  (viz. 

[75] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

Sunday  evening),  I  called  at  the  Political 
Division  of  the  German  Government  in 
Belgium  and  asked  whether,  now  that  the 
trial  had  taken  place,  permission  would  be 
granted  to  me  to  see  Miss  Cavell  in  jail, 
as  surely  there  was  no  longer  any  object 
in  refusing  that  permission. 

"I  also  asked  him  that  permission  be 
granted  to  Mr.  Gahan,  the  English  clergy- 
man, to  see  Miss  Cavell. 

"At  the  same  time  we  prepared  at  the 
Legation,  to  be  ready  for  every  eventuality, 
a  petition  for  pardon,  addressed  to  the 
Governor-General  in  Belgium,  and  a  trans- 
mitting note  addressed  to  Baron  von  der 
Lancken. 

'^Monday  morning  at  11  I  called  up 
Mr.  Conrad  on  the  telephone  from  the 
Legation,  asking  what  the  Military  Court 
had  decided  about  Mr.  Gahan  and  myself 

[761 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

seeing  Miss  Cavell.  He  replied  that 
Mr.  Gahan  could  not  see  her,  but  that  she 
could  see  any  of  the  three  Protestant 
clergymen  attached  to  the  prison;  and 
that  I  could  not  see  her  till  the  judgment 
was  pronoimced  and  signed,  but  that  this 
would  probably  only  take  place  in  a  day 
or  two.  /  asked  the  German  official  to 
inform  the  Legation  immediately  after  the 
passing  of  said  judgment,  so  that  I  might  see 
Miss  Cavell  at  once,  thinking,  of  course, 
that  the  Legation  might,  according  to  your 
intentions,  take  immediate  steps  for  Miss 
Cavell's  pardon  if  the  judgment  really  was 
a  sentence  of  death." 

At  11  o'clock  on  Monday  morning  ^'Herr 
Conrad  gave  positive  assurances  that  the 
Legation  would  he  fully  informed  as  to 
developments  in  this  case,'' 

[771 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

That  iS;  word  for  word,  the  categorical 
statement  of  Mr.  Gibson,  Secretary  of  the 
United  States  Legation  at  Brussels. 

^'Despite  these  assurances  (Mr.  Gibson 
continues),  we  made  repeated  enquiries 
in  the  course  of  the  day,  the  last  one  being 
at  6.20  P.M.,  Belgian  time.  Mr.  Conrad 
then  stated  that  sentence  had  not  yet  been 
pronounced,  and  specifically  renewed  his 
previous  assurances  that  he  would  not  fail 
to  inform  us  as  soon  as  there  was  any  news.'^ 

To  return  to  M.  de  LevaPs  report. 
"While  I  was  preparing  a  note  about  the 
case,  at  8  p.m.^'  he  says,  "  I  was  privately 
and  reliably  informed  that  the  judgment 
had  been  delivered  at  5  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  that  Miss  Cavell  had  been  sen- 
tenced to  death,  and  that  she  would  he 
shot  at  2  o'' clock  the  next  morning. ^^ 

The  death-sentence  had  been  signed  at 

[78] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

5  P.M.  An  hour  and  twenty  minutes  after 
its  signature,  Herr  Conrad  had  once  more 
assured  the  American  Legation  that  noth- 
ing had  happened  and  all  was  well.  The 
Legation  had  learnt  the  truth  at  8  o'clock, 
and  still  no  intimation  of  it  had  been 
conveyed  to  them  by  the  competent 
German  authorities.  The  German  author- 
ities never  informed  them  of  the  truth, 
until  they  were  taxed  with  it  by  emissaries 
from  the  Legation  itself. 

The  German  authorities  informed  the 
American  Legation  of  only  one  positive 
fact  —  the  name  of  Edith  CavelFs  first, 
and  already  superseded,  advocate.  And 
the  advocate  substituted  in  M.  Braun's 
place  gave  them  knowledge  of  only  one 
fact  more  —  the  date  on  which  the  trial 
was  to  begin.  All  the  important  facts  — 
the  fact  that  the  Court  had  risen;    the 

179] 


THE   EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

narrative  of  what  had  taken  place  before 
it  rose,  including  the  supremely  important 
fact  that  the  death-penalty  had  been 
demanded;  and  the  final  fact  that  this 
sentence  had  already  been  pronounced  — 
these  were  communicated  to  the  American 
Legation  by  private  informants. 


[801 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 


VIII 

Monday  Night  —  "  The  Political 
Department " 

IT  was  the  eleventh  hour,  yet  the 
American  Legation  had  no  thought 
of  abandoning  the  struggle.  In  view  of 
this  very  eventuality  they  had  drawn  up 
the  day  before  two^  "pleas  for  mercy '^ 
(requetes  en  grace),  of  identical  purport, 
but  addressed  respectively  to  Baron  von 
der  Lancken,  the  Chief  of  the  Political 
Department,  and  to  Baron  von  Bissing,  the 
Governor-General  of  the  Occupied  Terri- 
tory. 

"Brussels, 

October  11,  1915. 

"Your  Excellency, 

"I  have  just  heard  that  Miss  Cavell,  a 
British  subject,  and  consequently  under 

[811 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

the  protection  of  my  Legation,  was  this 
morning  condemned  to  death  by  court- 
martial. 

"If  my  informant  is  correct,  the  sentence 
in  the  present  case  is  more  severe  than  all 
the  others  that  have  been  passed  in  similar 
cases  which  have  been  tried  by  the  same 
court,  and,  without  going  into  the  reasons 
for  such  a  drastic  sentence,  I  feel  that  I 
have  the  right  to  appeal  to  your  Excel- 
lency's feelings  of  humanity  and  generosity 
in  Miss  Cavell's  favour,  and  to  ask  that 
the  death-penalty  passed  on  Miss  Cavell 
may  be  commuted  and  that  this  unfortu- 
nate woman  shall  not  be  executed. 

"Miss  Cavell  is  the  head  of  the  Brussels 
Surgical  Institute.  She  has  spent  her  life 
in  alleviating  the  sufferings  of  others,  and 
her  school  has  turned  out  many  nurses 
who  have  watched  at  the  bedside  of  the 

[821 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 

sick  all  the  world  over,  in  Germany  as  in 
Belgium.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  Miss 
Cavell  bestowed  her  care  as  freely  on  the 
German  soldiers  as  on  others.  Even  in 
default  of  all  other  reasons,  her  career 
as  a  servant  of  humanity  is  such  as  to 
inspire  the  greatest  sympathy  and  to  call 
for  pardon.  If  the  information  in  my 
possession  is  correct,  Miss  Cavell,  far 
from  shielding  herself,  has,  with  com- 
mendable straightforwardness,  admitted 
the  truth  of  all  the  charges  against  her,  and 
it  is  the  very  information  which  she  herself 
has  furnished,  and  which  she  alone  was  in 
a  position  to  furnish,  which  has  aggravated 
the  severity  of  the  sentence  passed  on 
her. 

"It  is  then  with  confidence,  and  in  the 
hope  of  its  favourable  reception,  that  I 
have  the  honour  to  present  to  your  Excel- 

[831 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

lency   my  request  for  pardon   on   Miss 
CavelFs  behalf. 

"  I  avail,  &c., 

''Brand  Whitlock." 

The  American  Minister,  Mr.  Whitlock, 
himself  was  ill  and  confined  to  his  bed. 
Yet  with  his  own  hand  he  wrote  a  note  of 
personal  intercession. 

"My  dear  Baron, 

''  I  am  too  ill  to  present  my  request  to 
you  in  person,  but  I  appeal  to  the  gener- 
osity of  your  heart  to  support  it  and  save 
this  unfortunate  woman  from  death. 
Have  pity  on  her  ! 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"Brand  Whitlock." 

This  final  appeal,  as  well  as  the  more 
formal  pleas  for  mercy  that  had  been 
previously  prepared,  was  taken  charge  of 

[84] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

by  Mr.  Gibson,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Legation. 

We  quote  what  followed,  from  his  official 
report  to  Mr.  Whitlock. 

"In  conformity  with  your  instructions, 
I  went  (accompanied  by  M.  de  Leval)  to 
look  for  the  Spanish  Minister,  and  found 
him  dining  at  the  home  of  Baron  Lambert. 
I  explained  the  circumstances  to  his  Ex- 
cellency and  asked  that  (as  you  were  ill 
and  unable  to  go  yourself)  he  go  with 
us  to  see  Baron  von  der  Lancken  and 
support  as  strongly  as  possible  the  plea, 
which  I  was  to  make  in  your  name,  that 
execution  of  the  death-penalty  should  be 
deferred  until  the  Governor  could  consider 
your  appeal  for  clemency.  The  Spanish 
Minister  willingly  agreed  to  accompany 
us,  and  we  went  together  to  the  Politische 
Abteilung. 

[85] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

"Baron  von  der  Lancken  and  all  the 
members  of  his  staff  were  absent  for  the 
evening.  We  sent  a  messenger  to  ask 
that  he  return  at  once  to  see  us  in  regard 
to  a  matter  of  utmost  urgency.  A  little 
after  10  o'clock  he  arrived,  followed  shortly 
after  by  Count  Harrach  and  Herr  von 
Falkenhausen,  members  of  his  staff.  The 
circumstances  of  the  case  were  explained 
to  him  and  your  note  presented,  and  he 
read  it  aloud  in  our  presence.  He  ex- 
pressed disbelief  in  the  report  that  sen- 
tence had  actually  been  passed,  and  mani- 
fested some  surprise  that  we  should  give 
credence  to  any  report  not  emanating 
from  official  sources. 

"  Baron  von  der  Lancken  stated  that  it 
was  quite  improbable  that  sentence  had 
been  pronounced,  that  even  if  so,  it  would 
not  be  executed  within  so  short  a  time, 

[86] 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 

and  that  in  any  event  it  would  be  quite 
impossible  to  take  any  action  before  morn- 
ing. It  waS;  of  course,  pointed  out  to  him 
that  if  the  facts  were  as  we  believed  them 
to  be,  action  would  be  useless  unless  taken 
at  once.  We  urged  him  to  ascertain  the 
facts  immediately,  and  this,  after  some 
hesitancy,  he  agreed  to  do. 

'^  He  telephoned  to  the  presiding  judge 
of  the  court-martial  and  returned  in  a 
short  time  to  say  that  the  facts  were  as 
we  had  represented  them,  and  that  it  was 
intended  to  carry  out  the  sentence  before 
morning. 

''  We  then  presented,  as  earnestly  as  pos- 
sible, your  plea  for  delay.  So  far  as  I  am 
able  to  judge,  we  neglected  to  present  no 
phase  of  the  matter  which  might  have 
had  any  effect,  emphasizing  the  horror  of 
executing  a  woman,  no  matter  what  her 

[87] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

offence,  pointing  out  that  the  death- 
sentence  had  heretofore  been  imposed 
only  for  actual  cases  of  espionage,  and  that 
Miss  Cavell  was  not  even  accused  by  the 
German  authorities  of  anything  so  serious. 
I  further  called  attention  to  the  failure 
to  comply  with  Mr.  Conrad ^s  promise  to 
inform  the  Legation  of  the  sentence. 

'^  I  urged  that  inasmuch  as  the  offences 
charged  against  Miss  Cavell  were  long 
since  accomplished,  and  that,  as  she  had 
been  for  some  weeks  in  prison,  a  delay  in 
carrying  out  the  sentence  could  entail  no 
danger  to  the  German  cause.  I  even  went 
so  far  as  to  point  out  the  fearful  effect  of  a 
summary  execution  of  this  sort  upon  public 
opinion,  both  here  and  abroad. 

"The  Spanish  Minister  forcibly  sup- 
ported all  our  representations  and  made 
an  earnest  plea  for  clemency. 

[88] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

"Baron  von  der  Lancken  stated  that 
the  Military  Governor  was  the  supreme 
authority  (^  Gerichtsherr ')  in  matters  of 
this  sort.  After  some  discussion  he  agreed 
to  call  the  Military  Governor  on  the 
telephone;  and  learn  whether  he  had  already 
ratified  the  sentence,  and  whether  there 
was  any  chance  for  clemency.  He  re- 
turned in  about  half  an  hour,  and  stated 
that  he  had  been  to  confer  personally 
with  the  Military  Governor,  who  said 
that  he  had  acted  in  the  case  of  Miss  Cavell 
only  after  mature  deliberation;  that  the 
circumstances  in  her  case  were  of  such  a 
character  that  he  considered  the  infliction 
of  the  death  penalty  imperative ;  and  that 
in  view  of  the  circumstances  of  this  case 
he  must  decline  to  accept  your  plea  for 
clemency  or  any  representation  in  regard 
to  the  matter. 

[89] 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

^^Even  after  Baron  von  der  Lancken's 
very  positive  and  definite  statement  that 
there  was  no  hope,  and  that  under  the  cir- 
cumstances ^even  the  Emperor  himself 
could  not  intervene/  we  continued  to  ap- 
peal to  every  sentiment  to  secure  delay, 
and  the  Spanish  Minister  even  led  Baron 
von  der  Lancken  aside  in  order  to  say 
very  forcibly  a  number  of  things  which  he 
would  have  felt  hesitancy  in  saying  in  the 
presence  of  the  younger  officers  and  of 
M.  de  Leval,  a  Belgian  subject. 

"His  Excellency  talked  very  earnestly 
with  Baron  von  der  Lancken  for  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  During  this  time 
M.  de  Leval  and  I  presented  to  the 
yoimger  officers  every  argument  we  could 
think  of.  I  reminded  them  of  our  untiring 
efforts  on  behalf  of  German  subjects  at 
the  outbreak  of  war  and  during  the  siege 

[90] 


FROM   MASSACHUSETTS 


of  Antwerp.  I  pointed  out  that,  while 
our  services  had  been  rendered  gladly 
and  without  any  thought  of  future  favours, 
they  should  certainly  entitle  you  to  some 
consideration  for  the  only  request  of  this 
sort  you  had  made  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  Unfortunately,  our  efforts  were 
unavailing.  We  persevered  until  it  was 
only  too  clear  that  there  was  no  hope  of 
securing  any  consideration  for  the  case. 

"  We  left  the  Politische  Abteilung  shortly 
after   midnight,    and   I   immediately   re- 
turned to  the  Legation  to  report  to  you. 
"Hugh  Gibson.'' 


[91 


THE   EDITH   CAVELL  NURSE 


IX 

Monday  Night  —  The  Prison  of  SL- 
Gilles 

THAT  is  what  happened  at  the  "Po- 
Htical  Department '^  of  the  German 
Administration  in  Brussels  on  the  evening 
of  Monday,  October  11th.  Meanwhile,  a 
very  different  interview  was  taking  place 
in  the  Military  Prison  of  St.-Gilles,  where 
Mr.  Gahan,  the  British  chaplain  in  the 
Belgian  capital,  had  been  admitted  at  last 
to  visit  Edith  Cavell  at  10  o'clock,  five 
hours  after  the  sentence  had  been  passed 
and  four  hours  before  it  was  put  into 
execution. 

"On  Monday  evening,  the  11th  Octo- 
ber" (Mr.  Gahan  writes),  "I  was  admitted 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 


by  special  passport  from  the  German 
authorities  to  the  prison  of  St.-Gilles, 
where  Miss  Edith  Cavell  had  been  con- 
fined for  ten  weeks.  The  final  sentence 
had  been  given  early  that  afternoon. 

''To  my  astonishment  and  relief  I  found 
my  friend  perfectly  calm  and  resigned. 
But  this  could  not  lessen  the  tenderness 
and  intensity  of  feeling  on  either  part 
during  that  last  interview  of  almost  an 
hour. 

''Her  first  words  to  me  were  upon  a 
matter  concerning  herself  personally,  but 
the  solemn  asseveration  which  accom- 
panied them  was  made  expressly  in  the 
light  of  God  and  eternity.  She  then  added 
that  she  wished  all  her  friends  to  know 
that  she  willingly  gave  her  life  for  her 
country  and  said:  'I  have  no  fear  nor 
shrinking;   I  have  seen   death  so   often 

[931 


THE  EDITH  CAVELL  NURSE 

that  it  is  not  strange  or  fearful  to 
me.  .  .  .' 

"She  further  said:  'I  thank  God  for 
this  ten  weeks ^  quiet  before  the  end.  .  .  .' 

" '  Life  has  always  been  hurried  and  full 
of  difficulty.  .  .  : 

"'This  time  of  rest  has  been  a  great 
mercy.  .  .  .' 

"'They  have  all  been  very  kind  to  me 
here.  But  this  I  would  say,  standing  as 
I  do  in  view  of  God  and  eternity,  I  realize 
that  patriotism  is  not  enough.  I  must 
have  no  hatred  or  bitterness  towards 
anyone.' 

"We  partook  of  the  Holy  Communion 
together,  and  she  received  the  Gospel 
message  of  consolation  with  all  her  heart. 
At  the  close  of  the  little  service  I  began  to 
repeat  the  words  'Abide  with  me,'  and  she 
joined  softly  in  the  end. 

[94] 


FROM  MASSACHUSETTS 

"We  sat  quietly  talking  until  it  was 
time  for  me  to  go.  She  gave  me  parting 
messages  for  relations  and  friends.  She 
spoke  of  her  souFs  needs  at  the  moment 
and  she  received  the  assurance  of  God's 
Word  as  only  the  Christian  can  do. 

''  Then  I  said, '  Good-bye/  and  she  smiled 

and  said,  ^We  shall  meet  again.'" 
******* 

The  rest  is  silence.  All  we  know  is  the 
testimony  of  the  German  military-chaplain 
who  was  with  her  at  the  end. 

"She  was  brave  and  bright  to  the  last. 
She  professed  her  Christian  faith,  and  that 
she  was  glad  to  die  for  her  country.  .  .  . 

"  She  died  like  a  heroine.  ..." 

Beati  mortui  qui  in  Domino  moriunUir,  ut  re- 
quiescant  a  laboribus  suis;  opera  enim  illorum  se- 
quntur  illos. 

—  Revelation,  Chapter  xiv,  13. 


95 


SBi^Hiasr- 


DUE  DATE 


3LII19C 


201-6603 


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in  USA 


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